Icelandic Volcanic Eruption - Significant Disruption to UK Flights

philstanbridge · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:17

Would insurance cover this though? Act of nature as such?

Sp00n · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:19

I would be immensley peeved it is wasn't!

dannyjo22 · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:22

Sp00n said:
Um... insurance?

Tis harsh though, 2 years of planning down the pan

Yeah it will cover it but she won't get her holiday back from work at short notice. So she won't get another holiday this year. Not the end of the world but I can understand her being upset.

Although I'd be very happy If it was the other way around, say I'd just spent two weeks in florida and was due to fly back this week. The insurance would be paying for an extended stay

Andr3w · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:27

Any idea about flights tomorrow?

Blinkz · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:29

Andr3w said:
Any idea about flights tomorrow?

As I said, likely to still be disrupted at the very least. The link I posted before shows the extent of the ash cloud.

clv101 · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:30

Andr3w said:
Any idea about flights tomorrow?

I would guess none. Wind patterns look pretty stable for the next few days.

philstanbridge · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:32

God. Looks like it might be the same for another 24 hours at least..

dave_beast · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:34

Latest satellite loop, new image every 15 mins...

dannyjo22 · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:34

Blinkz said:
As I said, likely to still be disrupted at the very least. The link I posted before shows the extent of the ash cloud.

Pilots are gayers, in 2012 even the pilot with 2 hours flying time could take off with the runway dissapearing behind him and easily fly through ash clouds in a plane he'd never flown before. You have have become too dependant on your mutli coloured screens

dannyjo22 · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:35

philstanbridge said:
God. Looks like it might be the same for another 24 hours at least..

BA have told my sister at heathrow she's unlikely to be going anywhere until saturday at the earliest. Atleast it gives the cabin crew some time off

LizardKing · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:38

dannyjo22 said:
Pilots are gayers, in 2012 even the pilot with 2 hours flying time could take off with the runway dissapearing behind him and easily fly through ash clouds in a plane he'd never flown before. You have have become too dependant on your mutli coloured screens

Except volcanic ash is rather acidic, no one wants to put there multi million pound plane through a cloud that will do untold damage.

blairw · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:38

My dad is currently stuck in norway at work because of this, and is meant to be going to turkey on monday morning!

dave_beast · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:38

Westyfield2 said:
Forgive me for being stupid but.... if the problem is that there's Ash up high, then why don't they get the planes to fly lower?

Extremely corrosive and dangerous, and if it's in the higher fl levels, it's almost guaranteed to be falling to lower levels.

Best headline of the day

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/821832-flying-through-volcanic-ash-is-like-driving-up-a-badgers-arse

There are reports of a sulphur smell in the North Scottish Isles atm

The latest reports from Meto employees and aviation peeps http://www.ukweatherworld.co.uk/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=35867

Slinky1989 · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:39

Just been having a look at this webiste: http://www.radarvirtuel.com/

Anything north of london is just empty. Had a look at Gatwick airports flight info and it still says a few flights are scheduled to leave later today although many are cancelled.

clv101 · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:39

dave_beast said:
Latest satellite loop, new image every 15 mins...

Is this IR? Visible? The only reliable way to see the ash cloud is to calculate the brightness temperature difference between ~11 and 12 microns.

See here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/ash_detection.html

dave_beast · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:41

clv101 said:
Is this IR? Visible? The only reliable way to see the ash cloud is to calculate the brightness temperature difference between ~11 and 12 microns.

See here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/ash_detection.html

It's visible atm, after dark it changes to ir 10.1, but airflow is the key here, as any airflow coming from Iceland's direction atm is likely to have ash in it.

The Funktopus · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:46

First they inflict Kerry Katona on us, then Landisbanki collapses, now this! Curse you Icelandic types! :mad:

dannyjo22 · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:51

LizardKing said:
Except volcanic ash is rather acidic, no one wants to put there multi million pound plane through a cloud that will do untold damage.

No one cares about the acidity, it's stalling/stopping the engines that they care about. I was actually joking.

Cosimo · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:52

We will have peace and quiet in the sky around here with Heathrow going to sleep. The radar is already showing less flights than normal.

dave_beast · 15 Apr 2010 at 10:54

The ash is made up from pulverised rock and glass particles which can corrode the turbine blades, pass through the engine and solidify causing catastrophic failure, it also enters into the cabin and causes all sorts of problems for the passengers.

Interesting to see EasyJet still flying to Glasgow this afternoon!!?!?! Those in the north should watch the skies :O
http://holidays.easyjet.com/FlightCheck/flightdepartures.aspx?lang=en